Muslim-Christian violence turns deadly in Egypt

CAIRO, Egypt - Religious tensions in southern Egypt turned deadly Sunday, the third day of riots and looting sparked by a dispute between a Muslim street vendor and a Christian shop owner.

Egypt's Interior Ministry said two people died in the village of el-Kusheh, 275 miles south of Cairo. But a local bishop said 16 people died, and the violence spread to two nearby villages.

Security forces sealed off el-Kusheh, Dar el-Salam and Awlad Toq West and were trying to stop people from shooting, looting and burning shops, said Bishop Wissa, whose diocese includes the villages.

Wissa listed names of 16 people he said died in the rioting, including a man and his daughter. Fifty houses, shops and warehouses, along with a church building, were burned in Awlad Toq West, according to Wissa.

El-Kusheh residents were exchanging gunfire from rooftops of their homes, the Interior Ministry said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press late Sunday. Security forces intervened, and the situation was under control, it said.

El-Kusheh has been blocked off nearly round-the-clock since Friday. The ministry didn't mention the other two villages cited by Wissa but said Muslim and Christian religious leaders and local officials were trying to contain the situation.

Wissa said the trouble spread to Dar el-Salam after Sunday church services when "barbaric people carrying rifles went on a rampage and started firing at Christian shops and Christian houses."

Witnesses in Dar el-Salam, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said protesters smashed and burned scores of Christian-owned shops and offices. They said police opened fire to disperse the protesters, some of whom fired back, and more forces were called to restore order.